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Title: History of Us:first Americans,book 1
University Press
Item Number: 9780195127522
Number: 1
Product Description: Full Name: History of Us:first Americans,book 1; Short Name:History of Us
Universal Product Code (UPC): 9780195127522
WonderClub Stock Keeping Unit (WSKU): 9780195127522
Rating: 3/5 based on 2 Reviews
Image Location: https://wonderclub.com/images/covers/75/22/9780195127522.jpg
Category: Media >> Books >> Children's Books
Weight: 0.200 kg (0.44 lbs)
Width: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Heigh : 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Depth: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Date Added: August 25, 2020, Added By: Ross
Date Last Edited: August 25, 2020, Edited By: Ross
Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
$99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub (9296 total ratings) |
Thomas Bishop
reviewed History of Us:first Americans,book 1 on August 07, 2019To begin – this book is a dumpster fire. It is full of factually incorrect information, baseless opinions, and very little information about Native peoples. The information about Native peoples is from euro-centric viewpoint. The book almost entirely focuses on Europe and Europeans. Only 10 out of 39 chapters are actually focused on Native peoples of the Americas, and much of that information is wrong. It uses the word “Indian†throughout instead of correct terminology. She likes to quote European opinions about Natives, but doesn’t do the same for Native opinions of Europeans. The book repeatedly calls the Americas a “wilderness,†when in fact it was far from it. The information about Natives that is sprinkled throughout is either wrong or extremely biased. This book makes me seriously question her ability to write anything correct in the rest of the series and I am genuinely horrified to read the next book. As a Native educator, this is one of the worst books I've ever seen on this subject. If I could give it 0 stars, I would. Seriously... don't buy this book.
Here is a chapter by chapter review:
It calls us the “first Americans,†which is something many of us don’t like because we aren’t “American.†The map in the beginning is incorrect, places some nations in the wrong locations and puts ancient nations on the same map as later nations as if they existed at the same time.
Chapter 1 is about her opinions of history. It is full of cringe worthy quotes. It says that being American means your ancestors are Indians, Vikings, Pilgrims and slaves…as if we all have a common heritage…and even says we have a common heritage. She cays the U.S. is the “most remarkable nation that has ever existed.†It makes false claims about how supposedly no other nation has ever “provided†so much freedom, justice and opportunity. It claims the US corrects its mistakes. It also said that a peoples government had never been made before the US. Chapter 2 is about Mongolia and the Stone Age. It is extremely biased. Chapter 3 presents the land bridge theory as fact. It has a made up story about how Natives may have migrated through the Americas that is not based on any facts. It says the Kenwick Man is from a “different stock,†as if we are animals. It perpetuates the myth that some Native nations thought Cortes was a god. Chapter 4 says that “Indians†is a good word for us and that “Native†is confusing. “Anyone born in a country is a native of that country, so many of us are native Americans.†That quote is extreme erasure of our own identities, among others in this chapter. It lumps us all together in to one group and says “Indians…†did this or that, but then later explains that no one group did all those things, which is extremely confusing to children. She contradicts herself several times. She then goes back to generalizing us as one group. This chapter is then interrupted by something about dinosaurs. Chapter 5 uses the racial slur “esk*m*s†to describe arctic peoples. She contradicts herself multiple times and flip flops on what terms to use and when. She only mentions Inuit people by name. The information about arctic peoples is mostly incorrect here. She also says that in order to know about Native Americans’ pasts that you must fictionally time travel, rather than getting your information from us. Basically she implies that modern Natives don’t know anything about our peoples histories. She barely acknowledges that modern Native people exist. Chapter 6 is almost entirely incorrect. Virtually nothing written here is anywhere close to correct. She compares us to animals multiple times and implies how inferior we are to Europeans at the time. She spells Native nation names incorrectly and puts people groups together at the same time when in fact they existed in different time periods. She also says people have no freedom. Chapter 7 is also almost entirely incorrect. It’s also written with extreme bias and says very rude things about the people groups. She focuses almost entirely on her perceived negative aspects of these cultures and says nothing positive. Chapter 8 is also mostly incorrect. The “tour†over the continent focuses on plants and animals and not on people. The information about the people is pretty wrong. She again says Native peoples didn’t have any freedom. Chapter 9 is also factually incorrect. It infantilizes the Plains nations. It says Europeans made them not “poor†anymore and that they got lazy after Europeans came. It is full of baseless opinions. Chapter 10 is full of false information and baseless opinions yet again. It calls the mound builders weird and says we only know things about them because of M.C. Hopewell, not from actual Native peoples. It talks about their governments and societies, but doesn’t do that for any other Native peoples or regions in the rest of the book. Chapter 11 is just weird and makes very little sense. She contradicts herself in the footnotes. She again gives baseless opinions throughout and much of the information is factually incorrect. She calls the people “unusual†and uses incorrect names for nations. Chapter 12 gets a few things sort of correct, but from a biased perspective. She introduces the cannibalism myth as if it’s fact. Chapter 13 is where we stop talking about Native peoples and move on to focusing on Europeans. This chapter is entirely about Vikings. It is worded in a Eurocentric way – ie: it says Thorvald was the first white man to be killed by Indians rather than saying he was the first white man to kill us. Chapter 14 is odd and contradictory. It talks about Europeans inventing things that already existed, says “well actually…†these things already existed, and then goes back to praising European “inventions.†It is entirely about Europe. Chapters 15-18 are about Columbus. It perpetuates many myths about him and says he was a “gentleman†and one of the best sailors ever. It perpetuates the cannibal myths that Columbus made up, infantilizes the Taino, and says he killed ALL of the Arawak peoples. It’s all extremely biased and some information is incorrect. Chapters 19 and 20 are about other “explorers.†It says nothing accurate about Natives and perpetuates cannibalism myths again. Chapter 21 makes multiple false claims. It says most Natives didn’t have religious freedom, lumps us all together into one, and perpetuates European myths about the Aztec. It makes claims about the US birthing religious freedom and has tired tropes about “good†people doing “bad†things. It specifically names European nations, but then lumps all Africans, Arabs and “Indians†into homogeneous groups. Chapters 22 and 23 basically say that conquest was just the way of the world and that Cortes was an okay guy. It perpetuates many myths about the Aztec and implies how inferior they were. It gets very little right. It uses the “they thought they were doing right†defenses for the Spanish, but not for Natives. Chapter 24 claims most Native deaths were accidental by disease and completely ignores genocide and biological warfare. It makes extremely biased assumptions. And it says this: “It wasn’t all bad though. Spaniards brought their religious faith and their architecture to Mexico and South America. They brought their language, their arts, and their elegant manners. They brought learning: the first printing press arrived in mexico city in 1539 and a university in 1551. They encouraged truth telling: they let their historians write the good and the bad about what was happening in America. They built magnificent churches and palaces. They ended the terrible blood sacrifices that had been part of the Indian religion in middle America.†Not only is this almost entirely false – it’s extremely pretentious. It’s an implication of superiority. Chapters 25-29 are all about Spanish “explorers†searching for the mythical city of Cibola. It’s full of inaccuracies about Natives and baseless opinions. It calls the Spanish actions “adventures,†perpetuates myths about us and “Indian attacks,†and how the Americas were “wild.†It calls conquistadors “tough, energetic and brave.†I am also annoyed that she says “poisonous snakes†instead of venomous. Chapter 30 is all about praising the Spanish and their colonizing of the Americas and calls it an amazing accomplishment. It says nothing nice about Natives, though. Chapter 31 is all about Spain and Catholic/Protestant conflict. Chapter 32 is about the French. It talks about them eating someone so they wouldn’t starve, but doesn’t call them cannibals like it calls several Native nations throughout the book, even though those nations were never cannibals and these French people actually ate someone. Chapter 33 at least acknowledges they’re fighting over land that isn’t theirs…that’s the only nice thing I can say. Chapter 34 is about the French. It calls Samuel De Champlain “outstanding†and lumps Native all together into one group again. It uses incorrect Native nation names again. It says St. Augustine and Quebec are the oldest continuously inhabited cities in North America, ignoring the fact that Taos Pueblo and several other Pueblos actually are. It is about the Fur trade. Again with the cannibal myths and surviving “Indian attacks.†It also talks about civilizing the Indians. Chapters 35 and 36 are about England. Chapter 37 is another weird one full of opinions. It calls Europeans arrogant and calls the Aztec arrogant, but then says it’s “too bad†to have to call the Europeans arrogant and doesn’t say that of the Aztec. It’s all very strange. It uses the slur “s*v*g*s,†but doesn’t explain why it is bad. It calls the Americas a wilderness again. It also perpetuates the myth of the “Lost Colony†of Roanoke even though historians and the Native peoples in the area actually know what happened. Chapters 38 and 39 are all about the English. It calls the Americas a “sleeping giant of a land,†which basically implies we didn’t do anything amazing with ourselves or the land, and then it ends.
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